Safety attachment for firearms.



F. T. RUSSELL.

SAFETY ATTACHMENT FOR FIREARMS.

APPLICATION I'TLBD AUG.21, 1911.

Patented Sept. 3, 1912.

2 BHBBTS-SHEET l.

madam (Qk Mf Z'zdavzfon- F. I. RUSSELL. SAFETY ATTACHMENT FOR FIREARMS APPLICATION FILED AUG.21, 1911. I

Patented Sept. 3,1912.

2 sums-sum 2.

' NiTEDfsTA Es rnnpnnrcx 'r. museum, or PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

PATENT oFFIoE.

sunrr arimonmnnr FOR FIREARMS. j

Specification of Letters ratent. Apphcatinn filed August 21, 1911. Serial No. '645,12Q.

' PatentedSept.3,1912.

- To. all whom. it may concern Be it known that I, Fnmnnrcu T. RussnLL, a citizen of the United States, and residing at 4614 Greene street, inthe city of cause, lsprevented until it" is. grasped Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Safety Attachments for, Firearms, of which the following is a specification.

lThe 'present invention relates to means whereby discharge of 1a firearm, from any position forint'entional firing.-

The present invent on proceeds upon the theory, primarily, of preventing the striker reaching 'the primer ofthe'cartridge, even though it may be released from the sear;

the means employed being made to operate upon the principle otinterposmg 1n the path of the striker" or some part connected therewith, abarrierwhich will arrest the striker before it reaches the primer; said arresting .meanstorbarrier being automatically withdrawn from the path oi the 'mem her which it. intercepts by the lntentlonal manipulation ofrthe pistol for firing. In

the preferred embodiment, the barrier is in the riature of .9. secondary seal, which Wlll' catch the striker, or a member controlling the striker, immediately UPOIlhltS release from the sear pro r,- unless said secondary sear, has'been witdrawn from its normal "'tion by the: manipulation incident to fir- (preferably' a full movement of the tngger) and said secondary sear being located to arrest the striker in a position which will'leave' it sufiicienttlrrow to yet discharge the partridge, in theievent that attempt is made to fire the pistol after an accidental tripping ofi of the striker and the automatic safety has taken effect; the obvious advantage of this embodiment be- "ing'that the pistol is always safe, yet al- *ways ready 'for firing without requiring any movement or exercise of thought other than the normal firing manipulation. This embodiment'of the invention involves the further advantagethatthe full pull of the trigger, necessary torelease thejprimary sear and remove the secondary or safety sear a. from the path of the parts which move on firing, afiords opportunity for introducing a dogging memberior the main trigger, in the nature ofa secondary trig er, which dogging member iswvithdrawn. y the act of gripp ng the piston for firing, but which is normally in position to prevent an such movement oi the main trigger,- un er its own inertia When thelgun meets with external shock, as will hesufiicient to withdraw the secondary or safety sear. from the path of. the memberwhich moves. in (us charging the l Ac ording t th modified construction of the invention embodying some ofj its reatures, the barrier inter osed in, position to 7 bar the movementof t ejstriker, isfin the nature of a block that is g 'npeQts i-With, and withdrawn, by a gm lever inserted in the rear side of. the piste gun, in pesitien o eceive pressure from the hand when the pistol is. man pulated for; firing, and in the disclosed embodiment of this. form, the 10- -,cation'is.suoh that-if withdrawn rom the arresting position, the striker simply moves ently toward the primer WithQut-suificient orce to explode it.

The invention will be fully understood upon reference to the accompanying draw- 1ng, m which,

Figure 1, is a e tical se i nal" vase: a

known type, of firearm to which invention is applied by way of illustration, said section of Fig. 1 on a ver'tical'line; Fig. 4 is .a perspective view of the firin jmechanism, minus the parts upon which it is mounted in practice; Fig. 5-is a detail view showin the l I secondary sear in its relation to the coc ,'ng lever and to the trigger; and Fi 6 is a detail view of the rear end of t e" firearm,

shown in Fig. 1, but having applied theretoa modified construction by w 1ch some oi.

the results of myinven'tion'are realized.

1 represents the frame having a grip 2, 3-

the breech slide mounted to slide longitudinally 'ii'on the frame. and l the barrel mounte nently fin the barrel 4 against ar-taking of the long tudinal movements oi the breech slide, in whichit is supported. These three in and supported by the breech shde, and having a lug 4" which enters a seat 4 1n the frame (Figs. 1'and2) to permamain parts of the firearm, selected for purposes of illustrating the invention to be hereinafter described, are so related that when the gun is-fired, the breech slide 3 moves rearward under the reaction ofthe'powder gases to open the breech and throw out the spent shell and introduce a fresh'cartridgq in a manner well known in the art.

Mounted in the breech slide 3 is a breecli' I the surface 2 of the gripv when the breech slide is drawn rearward, in order to cock the' striker.

8 represents the sear which is suitably fulv crumed upon the axis 8 and has an end 8. in position. to engagethe shoulder 6 of the striker 6, and an end ,8 in-position to. receive the sear tripper-Q, which may. be moved rearward by the sliding trigger 10 to trip' 0a the sear and release the striker.

need not, therefore, be described in The parts thus far described form no,

part of my present invention, but are merely selected for purposes of illustration and greater detail. a

There is .danger that the sear 8 be jarred [out of arresting relation to the shoulder 6 by careless handling of the weapon or by dropping it; particularly if the shoulder. 6 becomes slightly upset by continued im-. pact against the arresting end 8 of the sear. To render the firearm safe, in theevent of such an-occurrence, I provide-a barrier, preferably in vthepath of the tail 7 of the cocking lever 7 which will arrest the :cocking lever and through'itthe striker 6 before'the point of the latter reachesuthe pri1ner.' According to the embodiment shown in Figs. 1 to 5, this barrier is in the form ofua-secondary sear 11 which normally stands in the path of a projection 12' on the tail 7 of the cocking lever 7, but which is so connected with the trigger 10,- as for instance,- through the medium of the slide bar 11, which carries the sear 11, that when the trigger 10 is moved rearward to 118- charge the firearm, the sear' 11 is wlthdrawn from the path of the projection 12 andthe cocking lever is 'free to execute its swinging movement incident to-the forward [drive of the striker.

ment necessary to take the secondary sear,

The range of move- 11 out of the path of the projection "12, is considerably more than any movement of the parts that canresult 'from the inertia of the parts when properly proportioned duetoexternal shock applied to the firearm. Tn other words, the release of the cooking lever canresult only from a relatively long pull of the trigger, such as results from the act of intentionally firing the gun. If, how- ,ever, it is desired. to introduce afurther safeguard against movement under inertia of .the parts and at the same, time lock'the trigger against movement-in thedirection of releasing the striker by any other than a .pull resulting from gripping thefirearm in position forintentional firing, an-fauxilary trigger or dogging device 13 may be introduc'ed in-the path of thetrigger, asfor graspingthe'gripofthe pistol. A5 a con- -ven1ent means -for connecting thebar 11" withthe trigger 10, and for the purpose of restraining releasin movement of said bar independently 0f t 'e' trigger, said trigger and bar are interlocked by a rabbet connection 10?, 11?, which brings the bar under control of thetrigger in'both longitudinal directions. ,A further advantage ofthe connection 10? and 11 arises from the ready separability of the connection, which per-h inits removalofthe trigger in takingulown ,orfiassembling the gun, which is in keeping with the general design of the pistol selecbe for illustration, wherein the. several parts are generally assembled vscrewsv or the like.

Inorde-r to mount the bar. 11' slidirigly upon the frame and permitits ready 'introduction or removal, it is fitted in'a slot '15, 1 in the frame.- The art 1" of said slot extends throughthe wal of the frame and is ofvsuflicient length to permit the offset without the use of instance by fulcruming it at 13 and hav-. ingits' end1'l3? projecting into-the path 01. ashqulder 1.0 on the trigger, while its end 13 is presented in position to receiver pressure from the fingers in'the act of w part llfo-f the'ba-r 1 1,';to. swing nanny outward after the connection .10", '11, with. the trigger has been relievedby the removal,

of thetrigger and the bar'hasjheen ermitted to slide rearward sufiiciently' to c ear its forward end.

, The operation of the device described with reference to Figs. 1 tot) is as follows:

When the pistol is grasped in position for -1 5 firingythe trigger dog 13 is Withdrawn from the path of the trigger 10 and the latter is freeto move rearward under the pull of the trigger finger to bring the sear tripvpera9 against'the sear 8 and swing the end 8 'upward out of the, path of the shoulder 6, so that the striker maybe driven forward by the spring 6".v Simultaneous] 1,1 the,

secondary sear 11 is moved rearwardy by .the trigger connection throughothe medium of'the. bar 11?, until said secondarysear passes out of the? path otthe, projection 12 so that the cooking lever" 7 {which is in con trolling relation to the striker 6, is free to execute its swinging movement I fulcrum?! and the pistol may be J--I f upon itsthe pistol has been jarred ofi so that the sear 8 has released the striker while the pistol is in .the pocket or previous to the time when it is required for use, the secondary sear 11 will have arrested the striker through the medium of the cocking lever 7 and what would otherwise result in a dangerous' unintentional firing of the pistol, will have been avoided. The pistol is nev- 10 ertheless still in condition for immediate use, for while the sear 8 accurately designed to develop the desired trigger pull, isno longer in control of the striker, and While an abnormal pull may be required to over i come the friction between the parts 11 andv 12, nevertheless the secondary sear 11 may be removed from the path of the projection 12 by imparting the usual range of intentional movement to the trigger 10 and the striker which will then be released, will still have a sufficient throw to detonate the primer. The invention thus insures a safety device operating uponthe rational principle of arresting the firing mechanism under conditions which cannot possibly be dis turbed by inertia of the'parts at the time of any external shock, but the pistol is still left in condition for immediate use notwithstanding the safety feature has entered so into effect and this use may be availed of with no other than the ordinary application of thought and manipulation incident to normal firing.

According to the embodiment shown in 85 Fig. 6, the tail-piece! of the cooking lever 7 encounters the block 14 during the firing movement of the striker, unless said block has been previously withdrawn by pressure v against the lever 15,which is fulcrumed at 16 40 in position to receivepressure from the hand .in the natural gripping operation incident to intentional firing. The lever 15 carries the block l i through a pivotal connection 14 as well as a spring 15 which engages the block let in such position as to tend nor- ,mally to swing the block upon its pivot 14: to a position out of the path of the tail 7; parts being, however, so related to the rear wall 2" of the gri that when the lever 15 60 is thrown outwar by its spring l5 the block 14 encounters the wall 2 for the combined purpose of throwing the block into the path oi the tail 7 and arresting further,

The

' outward movement of the lever 15.

block 14 is of such dimensions that it does not arrest the cooking lever 7 until the greater portion of the throw of the striker 6 has been traversed and if the gripping lever 15 be then pressed, intentionally or otherwise, the striker will be gently released without sufficient force to detonate the primer. 1

I claim 1. In a firearm, a striker, independent primary and secondary sears, each positioned to arrest the striker in tion and'a finger trigger having releasin connection with-both of said sears a adapted to fire the arm when either of said sears is in efiect; the secondary sear com 7 prising asliding member having connection with the finger trigger and adapted to slide into and out of a position in the path of the part connected with the striker.

2. In a firearm, a striker, a sear in:- normally arresting the striker in cocked position and-a; secondary sliding sear inthe path of a part moving with and controlling the striker; said secondary sear havin a connection through which it is move by the so normal act of firing the arm.

3. In a firearm, a striker, a sear for norv mally arresting the striker in cocked position, a secondary sliding sear in the path of a part moving with and controlling the g5 firing movement of the striker and located to arrest the striker near its cocked position and with 'sufiicient remaining throw in'. the striker to fire the charge, and a releasin connection for said secondary sear throu which it is removed from the path of the part with which it engages by the act of firing the pistol. v

4. In a firearm, a striker, a seat for no1 mally arresting the striker in cocked posi.-' tion, a secondary sliding sear adapted to arrest the striker near its cocked position, after being released by the sear, a trigger for releasing the scar and a connection through which said trigger also releasesfihe 10 0 secondary sear.

5. In a firearm, a striker, a sear for nor- 1 mally arresting the striker in cocked 'posi-. tion, a secondary sliding sear adapted to i arrest the, striker near its cocked position, .105 after being released by the sear, a trigger l t for releasing the sear and Y a connection "throu h which said trigger also releases the'Q 'secon ary sear; said trigger also prevemtindg movement of the secondary sear i'ndepn ently ofthe trigger.

6. In a firearm, a striker, a sear for normally arresting the striker in cocked posi-v tion, a secondary sliding sear adapted to arrest the striker near its cocked position, after being released by the sear, a trigger.

for releasing the sear and a connecinon throu h which said trigger also releases'the secon ary sear; said trigger also preventin movement; of the secondary sear indepen 'ently of 'the trigger and having a trigger dog normally entering the path of thetrlgger and preventing its releasing movement, 1 said dog releasing the; trigger on gripping the firearm for action. I

7 In a firearm, a striker,a sear for normally arresting the striker in cocked position, a secondary sliding sear, a cooking lever in controlling relation to the striker and which is in turn controlled by the secondary sear, 13

whereby the latter is adapted to arrest the I ger will move first the secondary sear and thereupon the sear from their arresting positions. 10

8. In a to arrest thestriker in cocked position, a secondary sear adapted to arrest the striker firearm, a striker, a sear adapted near itsco'cked position, after it is released by the, sear, a sliding bar carrying said secondary sear and a trigger having a re- 15 leasing connection with the sear and a vcontrolling connection with said sliding bar.

The foregoing specification signed this eighteenth day of August, 1911.

FREDERICK T. RUSSELL.

In presence of- GHAs. Cone VAN RIPER, DOROTHY YONKER. 

